Oh boy, what have I got myself into...!

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robutacion

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Well, after we got our first cat ever (Luna) just over 1 month, the sweet creature though that she had the house and us all for herself but I continued looking for a small to a medium dog that after weeks of wasting my time with the animal shelters around this state, I got very disappointed with system they have and the inexplicable red tape they put you through and the time it takes to get anything done, so much for expecting people to adopt their animals, it seems that deliberately keep the animals for as long as they can to justify all the donations they get, I was supporting 3 local shelters with a small amount every month, that has been removed, really not impressed.

Anyway, I realised that I would have better chances to get an animal through either "Trading Post" or "Gumtree" a great buy, sell, swap, place here in Australia.

Last Sunday I saw an add on Gumtree for a Chihuahua cross 2 years of age and nothing wrong with her, the fellow said that he just had no time for the dog, he said that he asked $100 to know the dog was to a good house ($100..!@ really...?).
She had to be picked up that day so, we got in the car and drove 100km to his place. This fella in his 50 odds didn't look all there, his attitude and responses to our questions were either vague or ignored but, as soon as we crossed to the back yard, this little "fluffy" dog was all over us, rolling on the ground belly up and very playful, his coat/hair was so long a sign that she hasn't been groomed for a very long time and in no time Merissa had her on her harms and that was it, she settled down enjoying the warmth, we paid the $100 and we were out of there, one could see that he was happy to see her go...!

So the following images are of Mia that was put on the Gumtree add;

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We got home from a drive under heavy rain and just before dark, looking at Mia walking on the house we noticed that she had some sort of a limp and a strange way to move her hips, we soon realised that she had some issues in that area that needed to be seen by a Vet.
A couple of days later we booked her for grooming and then took her to the vet for a general health check, vaccination and microchipping, desexing would be taken care at a later time, look at Mia now...!

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According to the vet, my age suspicions were correct, Mia was about 5 and not 2 as we were told, she also suffers from Medial Luxating Patella on her knees and she requires surgery for Lateral Imbrication and Tibial Crest Transposition so both knees have to be done. This explains Mia inability to jump up into a couch or even stand on her back legs, she tires quickly when outside walking about.

From the impression we got when we picked Mia from her former owner, we could tell that she spent most of the time outside and nothing was ever done to her to make her comfortable with her legs, I doubt that this poor animal has ever had any care and attention given to her apart from the fact that she would spend long periods of time on her own outside.

We are sorting all that and giving this beautiful girl the love, care and attention she never had and most definitely we will find a way to get her legs fixed so that she can do the things normal dogs do. The interaction with Luna the cat and Mia started rough, Luna would panic and disappear to hiding while Mia would look for her, I believe Mia wanted to play but the way she did it scared Luna, every day gets better, today was the first day we saw Luna making an effort to come from hiding to look for Mia and have a bit of a sniff at each other, we can see that Luna is the one making most of the effort to make friends, that is, until lunchtime today when someone brought in another animal, this time a Border Colie Male 6 months old purebred and full of beans.

This was after I saw an add on Trading Post on Friday about this young dog that the owners were trying to rehome due to some changes on circumstances, despite the fact that this dog cost him $1,000 at the breeder he was willing to let the dog go at no charge with all his toys, bed, etc., and all the paperwork, the only thing that was not yet done to this dog was desexing, he is still a bit young for that, the balls have to drop first, only one did the other one not yet.

We got here about 12:00 lunchtime and what a beautiful dog he is, being full of beans does not give justice to this dog, he is crazy fast and smart, still a puppy and he does a lot of puppy stuff, when Mia got introduced to him, the hell broke loose and poor Mia was made into a rag doll, this young dog plays very rough and was obvious we have some work to do to make them be friends and get along so, meet Harley the 6 months old male Border Colie "machine", the pic was the one on the add;

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For the rest of the afternoon, I had Harvey with me on the backyard while doing a few jobs in between showers of rain, one of the jobs was to prepare a small order for tomorrow posting, so I called Harvey is the Lolly-shop and while I was doing my thing I noticed that she was a little too quiet, so I looked and there she was chewing on some of my pen blanks that were on the bottom shelves, I just couldn't make her stop, she will grab one run outside while chewing it up, come back for more and kept doing this for a good 30 minutes, non-stop, I would chase her trying to get the blank out of her mouth but, she is just too smart and fast for me so, by the time I finished with that small order that should have taken 10 minutes or less, I looked around on the floor and outside and I could see a bunch of blanks, somehow, he seemed to know which of the blanks have the most value and those got a good chew up some like this Amboyna burl 2 tone stabilised blank and others;

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Tired of running after him without success, I decided to grab the camera and take a few pics of his work in my lolly-shop, what am I going to do...?

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After dark and on time to go to the house for dinner, as soon as Harvey got through the front door, hell broke loose again, the cat went flying and Mia tried to defend herself but Harvey wraps his arms around her and lays on her, poor Mia...!
We have the house full of toys as we do also outside but inside she just runs a much and doesn't stop jumping on everything and everybody, Merissa and I, we got exhausted trying to keep the peace, tomorrow I will be buying a very tall cat scratch tower where Harley can't reach but still allow the cat Luna to be in the main room with everybody and see what's happening, we hope that Harley after a few days start getting all the smells of everybody and start to be more workable and kind to Mia, I'm sure Luna will get Hairy on the nose unless Harly kills her first.

That's all my fault, Merissa picked the cat but I didn't stop until we got a small dog first but after we got Mia, we were still missing a bigger dog in the house and me as a mate to go hunting birds and rabbits, not forgetting a companion when I'm in the workshop.

The question tonight is, did I ate more than I can chew...? am I ever going to make these animals friends with each other? are we ever going to have a peaceful home with this lot...?

I hope we can manage...!

PS: We are now a family of five...!;)

Cheers
George
 

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leehljp

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Sorry, but I had to laugh! I know the feeling of getting pets to adjust to a new "family" member, and it is different each time.

Are we going to see some "chewed Amboyna" for sale?
 

Texas Taco

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Sorry, I too had to laugh a little. Welcome to the joys and frustrations of having a herding dog. Herding breeds, Border Collies, Heelers, Corgis, German Shepards and such have the built in need for a job. Without a task they will find a task and one of those so many of them find in their youth is chewing.
 

1080Wayne

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Don`t know what to say George , other than I`m sorry that your two newest family members are going to cost you a lot of money . A tall scratch post should have a heavy base , as it will likely be used as a launch pad to investigate anything of interest at about the same height within a 4 foot radius .

Harvey might possibly find a deer antler or a piece of hide more to his liking than amboyna . Obviously he has good taste as a customer of your products . Just a matter of finding a way to ensure that the value of his payment currrency (the companionship and laughter he generates) exceeds the blank and disruption costs .
 

magpens

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Seems like you have your hands full, George !! . Maybe you have bitten off more than you can chew !! .... while Harley is chewing just fine.

As Hank suggested, we'll probably see some "gently chew-sed" blanks for sale shortly !!!
 

sbwertz

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Lucky2

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George, I am jealous of you getting two dogs, I would love to be in your shoes. But I would never own a border collie, not unless I owned a working farm. They are very smart dogs, and they can herd any type of animal. They do have to have something to do, otherwise, they get into mischief like you have experienced. As for the chewing of your pen blanks, get him a shank bone from a cow or calf to chew on. And you will have to spend time to train him, they love to run and fetch things. It will take some time, but Harley can be trained to be a very good dog. If you have some way for me to do so, I'd like to make a small donation towards the surgery Mia needs. I don't appreciate how her previous owner treated her, nor do I appreciate how he lied to you about her health. Please contact me through the private message system, to let me know how to get the donation to you. Best of luck with the training of Harley, I think you will need it. Border Collies will chew on anything they can get into their mouths, and it's a hard habit to break them of.

Len
 

Sataro

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George,
Sounds like your household is back full & you will be having your hands full. The upside to this is that I hope we have a lot more stories coming detailing the fun antics taking place. Take care...

Billy
 

robutacion

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George, I am jealous of you getting two dogs, I would love to be in your shoes. But I would never own a border collie, not unless I owned a working farm. They are very smart dogs, and they can herd any type of animal. They do have to have something to do, otherwise, they get into mischief like you have experienced. As for the chewing of your pen blanks, get him a shank bone from a cow or calf to chew on. And you will have to spend time to train him, they love to run and fetch things. It will take some time, but Harley can be trained to be a very good dog. If you have some way for me to do so, I'd like to make a small donation towards the surgery Mia needs. I don't appreciate how her previous owner treated her, nor do I appreciate how he lied to you about her health. Please contact me through the private message system, to let me know how to get the donation to you. Best of luck with the training of Harley, I think you will need it. Border Collies will chew on anything they can get into their mouths, and it's a hard habit to break them of.

Len

Hi Len,
I appreciate your offer for a donation to help with Mia's surgery but I'm responsible for answering the "add" and bring Mia home, on the other hand, I'm happy that I did and give Mia a better life that she deserves. I am obviously annoyed that I was lied to and I would probably not have answered to the add if I knew the whole age and story but I have also to say that, if the fellow had decided to tell us the truth when we were there, I would have picked her up and brought it home, regardless...!

I want to have a second opinion about Mia's legs, I believe and XRay will be a good start as would have her been seen by a different Vet.

Your king heart is appreciated.

Cheers
George
 

robutacion

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Hi friends,

Yes, you are correct, I should have never answered that add even though I was missing the bigger dog companionship and decided that we would have a second dog, a playmate for Mia and possibly a playmate for Luna and after being asked so much money for any rescued dogs having a pure breed young dog for no dollars up front was definitely the force behind my reaction as soon as I saw the add only 3 hours old and put my hand up, big mistake.

I have never seen a dog like this, in fact, and only 2 days since we got Harvey, he already cost us hundreds of dollars and regardless where we have him, he destroys stuff, not forgetting that my 2 other pets have been locked in the computer room and being denied the life they were having and that I don't tolerate for long.

The decision was already made that we can not keep Harley, the original owner does not want him back so the only option I see is to "surrender" the dog to the local RSPCA but there is one main condition RSPCA require to accept Harley and there is, I have to be the official owner but all paperwork is the previous guy's name so I had to fill up some forms to request the microchip information to be transferred into my name.

A later development has occurred tonight when after so many messages to this guy's mobile phone I finally got a call confirming he can't have him back and that, he has actually transferred ownership into my name last Monday evening but he told me that the change may not be complete as he didn't have some info required of us so, I will contact the Pet Registry tomorrow and sort that part out, only then I can fill up the application to surrender to RSPCA and work out the day and time to take Harvey to them.

This will be a great dog if some training is given and some property owner adopts him for work so this is not the end for Harvey, he just needs some corrective work/training and a place with no cats and where he cannot destroy property as he has done here so far, and is not over yet it may be a couple of days before I can surrender him, so, will see...!

Decisions are made that turn up very wrong, any attempts to correct the mistake(s) are a lot more important than ignoring them, I'm learning a valued lesson and I'm not a shame to admit it, it is what it is...!

Cheers
George
 

pshrynk

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Well, in the dog's defense, that does look an awful like a super-market on a doggy scale... Sorry the little guy isn't going to work out. Borders can be wonderful companions, but they need a job and a large-ish place to run. A friend of mine had one and he kept herding the grandchildren whenever they would visit. I was thinking about buying him to see if it would work on my little crew of hellions.
 

sbwertz

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Well, in the dog's defense, that does look an awful like a super-market on a doggy scale... Sorry the little guy isn't going to work out. Borders can be wonderful companions, but they need a job and a large-ish place to run. A friend of mine had one and he kept herding the grandchildren whenever they would visit. I was thinking about buying him to see if it would work on my little crew of hellions.
My Australian Shepherd used to try to herd the kids, too.
 

robutacion

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Well, Harley is officially no longer my dog, he is at the moment boarded at a local Kennel that the Kennel's owner suggested I surrender Harley not to RSPCA but to the Australian Working Dog Rescue Association that I never heard of, the contact was made and they were more than happy to take Harvey so, he will be in the Kennel for the next 3 days and then picked up with all his belongings and paperwork to one of this rescue Association fosters that deal with animals like Harley.

I did spend almost all day dealing with this situation but after all this, I will get back the peace in the house and the wellbeing being returned to the poor Mia and Luna, they seemed to know the "danger" is gone and they were very happy pets this evening which was great to see, Merissa is also a lot less stressed and that is most important as I got stressed out myself enough.

So back to normal life and attention will now be given to Mia and her legs/knees condition and hopefully we can have something done soon that will allow her to move better and possibly minimise any pain/discomfort she may be feeling.

Cheers
George
 

robutacion

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How do Mia and Luna get along?

Hi Sharon, in the beginning, Mia would bark and chase Luna and Luna would run and hide but after a couple of days they were getting close together until Mia would bark and Lua would run but we could see that Luna was starting to get less scared of Mia and is standing her ground quite well so Mia seems to understand that the cat won't hurt her and vice versa but still, it will take a bit longer before they will comfortable with each other and possibly seat/lay next to each other, today I saw them touching noses and that was great to see...!

Cheers
George
 

mark james

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My but what an adventure. I do wish the best for the four of you. Good intentions usually pays off with multiple returns.

Be well.
 

pshrynk

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I had a Yorkie who played with my cat. You'd see the Yorkie chasing the cat out of the room and up the stairs and then a few minutes later, the cat chasing the Yorkie down the stairs.
 

robutacion

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My but what an adventure. I do wish the best for the four of you. Good intentions usually pays off with multiple returns.

Be well.

Yeah Mark, good intentions...!

It is a fact that we are in a way disappointed that Harley didn't turn out and that I did what I had to do to resolve the situation I created by bringing Harley to our family, I can also say that Mia and Luna are a lot happier and less stressed, every day they getting along better and I hope the day will come where I see both of them laying down in the same bed/couch.

Mia is the one that requires some further examinations as I have the gut feeling that her leg problem has come from her being kicked but I may be wrong, the Xrays will give us a better answer and what needs to be done next.

They are both such sweethearts...!:)

Cheers
George
 

jeff_in_AZ

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As far as taking a dog back to the shelter, sometimes that's the best decision all around.
We had to do something like that once, we adopted a pair of small dogs from the local
shelter and they didn't work out. They were a "bonded pair" and so they were a package
deal. The dogs were really cute, our kids were instantly attracted to them, and the dogs
seemed to like us, so my wife and I said ok.

The main problem was that they were biters. We speculated that they hadn't been around
children very much if at all in their previous home. At our house they would be ok up to a point,
but then they would hit their limit and start biting the kids. At the time our kids were young
(10 and 7) and we were concerned about the safety issue. The final straw was when one of
them bit my son in the face. There weren't any permanent marks, but we decided that day
that those dogs had to go. It was difficult but was the right thing to do. We made sure the
shelter knew the whole story and suggested that the next owners not have young children
in the house.

After that we took our time and really researched what type of dog would be good around
children and ended up with a neopolitan mastiff. He was big (120 lbs) but very patient and
gentle and he was a great addition to the family.
 

sbwertz

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Giving him to a working dog rescue is the best possible answer. He will be placed in a situation where he can do his job and shine.

George, if you decide to get another dog, choose a breed you like and that fits your lifestyle and look for a rescue for that breed. I have had some wonderful dogs from rescues, where their family couldn't keep them for one reason or another (for my Akita, it was that one of their kids turned out to be allergic to dog dander.) I also had a lovely doberman from a rescue. We had both of them until they died of old age.
 

robutacion

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G'Day George, congrats of your two new members of your family, will come and inspect them in a couple of month time.:p
Australian Working Dog Rescue was where I got my little girl from.
G'day My friend,

I don't think I knew from where you got your little girl from, they seem to be a good organization.

You will be more than welcome to come to visit and meet our 2 new pets, looking forward to that...!

Cheers
George
 

robutacion

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Hi peoples,

Just a quick update on Luna and Mia.

It seems that we are getting closer to see these 2 laying down in the same bed, we managed so far to get the 2 very close together in the same couch, didn't last long and I miss half of it while trying to get the camera, I still manage 1 pic before Mia decided to come and have a look at the camera.

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Since then, there have been other moments where both interact in a more gentle way even though Mia still tends to get a little too excited when close to Mia and "move" a little to fast scaring Luna away but Luna now shows no fear towards Mia and the closeness between these two is improving significantly to the point where they look for each other when one is away for some time, in Luna case she goes to sleep in the main bed where Mia can't see her because she can't jump but the other day I had to drive to the town next to us and I took Mia as she is always looking into getting into the car so, I took her with me and she loved it but when I got home, Merissa told me that some time after I left Luna was meauwing loudly and looking everywhere, it was obvious she was looking for Mia and that was the first time these 2 have been apart even though Mia only has been with us for a few weeks.

In a way, the harmony has returned to the family while Teddy and Zac are still badly missed, the cat experience for us has been great and we can now enjoy playing with them and spoil them rotten, something that we are pretty good at..! ;)

Cheers
George
 

sbwertz

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Pretty soon, they will both be in your lap! Bear is too big for my lap, but when Rascal is in my lap he comes and puts his head in my lap, too. Cold weather encourages lap sharing, too...they are heat lovers! At least they are both about the same size so you don't have this problem.



220688
 

robutacion

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Beautiful pic Sharon, I love to see dogs and cats being friends, I don't think size has much to do with it when it comes to their friendship but size as a lot to do when they are big and want to lay on you, your Bear is certainly a big dog and will be also heavy but they don't seem to care, they lay on you and find a comfortable spot to stay, for a little bit that may be OK but after some time it starts to weigh a tonne and most times you are the one that has to move no them...! ;)

Cheers
George
 

sbwertz

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My St Bernard wanted to be a lap dog. He would carefully climb up into my big armchair with me, putting his front legs on one arm and his hind legs on the other and draping his belly across my lap. He weighed 215 lbs! Somewhere I have a picture of that, but it was long before digital cameras and I haven't seen it in a while.
 
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